Sweet indie noise pop from Bellingham, WA. Strong rhythms and big hooks, changing tempos. Three-piece band with female front, whose boyfriend is the drummer. Songs end and start closely together (like in their live sets). Started in winter 2000. Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla recorded and mixed this.
1) “Sortie (Come and Gone)” (3:04). Mid-tempo. Opens with noise interference guitar. Drums 0:02 Guitar in at 0:10. 0:18 vox in. 1:28 just hook-y strings and percussion. 1:50 sparse instrumentation behind vox. 2:36 layered with male vox.
2) FCC Violation. “Do Your Homework” (2:13). “Shitty” at 0:45 and 1:55.
3)*“One Step Forward” (3:46). Catchy head-bopper. Opens with simple guitar “dialogue.” 0:06 drums in and more guitar chords, echo-ing opening melody. 0:15 vox enter. 2:53 hand claps. Drums end it at 3:44.
4)***“City Lights” (5:42). Opens with long guitar note and radio interference sound. Bass in at 0:05. 0:12 guitar hook. Drop down to guitar and drums with intro of vox at 0:21. 0:52 pause. Back at 0:53 with poppy guitar hooks. 1:11 clearer percussion. 1:33 tempo and melody switch. Some 30ips tack piano throughout. 1:50 tempo slows down - just instrumental. 2:15 percussion tempo change. 3:07 chicka-chicka (?) in. 3:54 bass line changes. 4:24 tempo picks up. 4:52 vox and full instrumentation back.
5)*“Fingertips” (4:23). All instruments in from start, peppier tempo. 0:39 vox in with bass line and quieter guitar and percussion. Those pick up at 1:13. 1:49 more percussion (locomotive-like - back at 2:47). Loud, echo-y yell at 3:01 lead to more raucous instrumentation. 3:46 starts to calm down, with vox again. End it around 4:17.
6)**“Epitaph” (5:17). Quieter, slower. Acoustic strings, 0:19 vox in. 1:08 drums in. 2:44 slows down more, just strings. 3:03 vox back. 3:41 percussion slowly re-introduced. 4:14 crescendo. Slow-ish “Ba da ba ba” section. 4:48 radio interference sound, tempo picks up. End around 5:12
7)* “Sharpest Pencils” (2:54). Catchy bass line. 0:09 guitar and drums also in with a grand entrance. 0:24 just drums and different bass line. 0:37 male vox this time. 0:50 female vox in. 1:15 both male and female layered vox. 2:04 tambourine, beat working up to pause at 2:16, then all instruments rocking out. End at 2:53.
8) *“Legal Fees” (2:44). All instruments fast. Drops down to bass, vox at 0:18. 0:22 drums. 0:36 guitar back in. Cute bass/guitar duet 0:40 to 0:48. Pause. Back to all plus vox. 1:06 strings duet back, and at 2:11.
9) “The Way Things Are Here” (2:19). Guitar and drums. Vox in at 0:13. 0:27 some male backup vox. 1:21 guitar distortion. Ends abruptly at 2:16.
10)** “Our Favorite Day” (4:57). Pretty guitar intro. Male vox. 0:36 to 0:44 just gentle guitar. Power chord(s). Faded out until 0:59, vox and gentle guitar back. 1:10 female backups. 1:26 faster tempo with louder guitar chords. 1:57 slows down. 4:04 poppy guitar melody. Ends at 4:53. -margot